National collection event helps to keep unused drugs out of waterways, abusers’ hands

TROY >> Members of the Troy Drug Free Community Coalition, along with Mayor Lou Rosamilia and Police Chief John Tedesco, announced Saturday a new public safety committee while marking the eighth annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

Rosamilia said that the statistics regarding prescription drug abuse among young people were staggering, and that one recent study showed that one in four teens have either misused or abused prescription drugs — a 33 percent increase in the last five years.

“The fact remains, there’s only one way to describe it,” Rosamilia said. “We have an epidemic.”

Rosamilia said the new committee would not only look into different types of substance abuse problems but also research how abuse can be prevented.

“I want people to understand as a community, we are not powerless against the challenges of drug abuse by our young people,” said Davia Collington of the Troy Drug Free Community Coalition. “The key to preventing such issues among our youth is pooling all of our resources and our talents together.”

Collington thanked Tedesco for “stepping up to the plate, and not just giving lip service.”

Shania Jackson, 18, is a Troy High School senior who works with the Troy DFCC to combat drug use in the community. She said she believes using scare tactics would be unsuccessful, because young people are fearless.

“You have to show it to them in a way that they understand that if you do drugs, this could really prevent you from doing what you want to do, it could distract you from being the best person in the world and it could ruin your life not just in a physical way, but cut you off from what you really want to do in life,” said Jackson.

Jackson said the Troy DFCC has held focus groups to understand what leads young people in Troy to try drugs, and will be meeting again in May to discuss their future plans.

According to Jackson, the Troy Police Department has collected 216 pounds of unused prescription drugs during the last two Drug Take-Back Days. In the Capital District, 30,000 pounds of prescription drugs have been dropped off by 10,000 people since the inaugural Drug Take-Back Day.

“I would believe that turning in that much unwanted medication has prevented somebody from diverting some of that medication for non-medical use,” said James Burns, assistant special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration during a press conference held in Albany earlier in the day. He said it was also good to know those drugs weren’t contaminating water supplies.

State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman was scheduled to appear at the press conference in Albany, but was unable to attend.

“Unused prescription drugs are a prime source that fuels the epidemic of prescription drug abuse in New York state,” said Schneiderman in a media release. “Eliminating easy access to unused drugs is a key aim of New York’s groundbreaking I-STOP law.”

The law, introduced by Schneiderman in 2011, was passed by the state legislature in 2012. The law keeps a database to monitor controlled substance prescription activity by patients, doctors and pharmacists. Assemblyman John McDonald, who is also a practicing pharmacist, said this measure can prevent “doctor shopping,” when patients visit multiple doctors in order to obtain multiple prescriptions for the same drug.

The next phase of implementation in the I-STOP law, scheduled for March 27, 2015, will mandate electronic prescriptions for controlled substances, to eliminate problems stemming from forged or stolen written prescriptions.

Lauren Wilkens, a registered nurse who serves on the Senate’s task force for heroin and opioid addiction, spoke in Troy and said that while the I-STOP law was a step in the right direction, much more needs to be done to address problems with health insurance and addiction treatment. While the law restricts access to prescription drugs, she believes it may have caused people to turn to heroin or other illegal drugs.

Wilkens’ son is in recovery for drug abuse, and she said that getting the treatment he needed was a struggle with their insurance company. He was told he needed to “fail” out of outpatient treatment a certain number of times within a specific time frame, she said, before the company would pay for inpatient treatment.

“But in this case, failure can mean death,” Wilkens said.

In the Capital Region, there were a total of 13 sites that collected unused prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, including the CVS Pharmacy located on Central Avenue in Albany, Crossgates Mall, Albany College of Pharmacy, West Sand Lake Fire Department, and the Troy, Schodack, Watervliet and Colonie police stations.

For those who were unable to participate in the event on Saturday, prescription drugs can be dropped off year-round at the New York State Police Troop G Headquarters in Latham, the North Greenbush Police Department, town of Waterford Public Safety Building and Cambridge/Greenwich Police Department.